Blood of the Wastes
by Kanto Touch This
Summary: Fifty years before the Lone Wanderer ever set foot in the Capitol Wasteland, a hemophiliac vault dweller must undertake an impossible mission. A girl whose slightest cut can prove fatal may learn to survive in a world where there is no mercy-or she may end up just another bloodstain in the wasteland.
1. Thank You For Choosing Vault-Tec

**Thank you for choosing Vault-Tec!**

 **You have been assigned to Vault** _73_

 **Please refer to this handbook for all Vault-Tec guidelines and procedures**

 **Vault-Tec: A better future. Underground.**


	2. The Basics

**Chapter 1: The Basics**

 **Welcome to the Vault, your family's home sweet home for centuries to come! Each Vault comes standard equipped with all necessary supplies to sustain its residents and is also tailor-made to accommodate the group it will contain. Each Vault is fitted with the latest state of the art machinery and as a welcome gift, each resident is presented with a Pip-Boy 3000, one of the latest and greatest models of miniature computer. These nifty little gadgets are virtually indestructible and provide all sorts of useful information, from radio signals to data storage. So go ahead and try yours on!**

* * *

"Hang on, hang on, you'll need a glove first...I'll go find one…"

Charlotte lifted the Pip-Boy out of the tissue paper. It was surprisingly light for something so bulky-looking. They told her it was her father's, but how could she know that for sure? It could have been anyone's. It smelled old, like dust and darkness...old and forgotten.

"Here we go - of course all the fingers are missing, but you'll manage."

A leather glove was forced onto her hand, uncomfortably stiff and scratchy with age, reaching almost to her elbow. "Why do I -" She started, but was shushed by excited whispers as they placed the Pip-Boy over her arm.

"Now this is going to hurt a little…"

Sudden pain shot through her arm when the straps were tightened, as if several sharp points had just stabbed into her flesh. She gasped, but had the presence of mind not to jerk away...she was accustomed to needles and things. Still, her forearm throbbed with heat when she tried to move it. "I'm...not bleeding, am I?" Panic gripped her. "It's been sterilized, right?"

"Don't worry about it, dear, we all have it, hasn't hurt any of us yet. It's just to keep it...secure. But look at you, you're all grown up now! With that Pip-Boy, you can have real, grown up responsibilities and help support your Vault!"

Charlotte looked around the room at all the worn faces, some trying to smile, others slack and unresponsive, all illuminated by the dull, flickering fluorescents. They had taken care of her all her life and now she had to take care of them. After all, that was only fair and right...she was an adult now. That was what you did as an adult. That was all you did as an adult.

Charlotte Catesby, ten years old, ate her stale cake with her stinging arm and tried to enjoy the last day of her childhood.


	3. Getting to Know Your Vault

**Chapter 2: Getting to Know Your Vault**

 **Although most Vault-Tec vaults are scheduled to open after a safe interim, Vault 73 is specifically designed to ensure its dwellers' permanent safety. Catering exclusively to the differently abled, this vault sports state-of-the-art medical facilities and a highly trained staff, as well as ample provisions to supply you and your family for generations to come. Rest assured that our vault's databases are chock full of the latest medical journals, allowing our doctors to treat virtually any and all known ailments!**

* * *

"There's-nothing-here!"

Charlotte pushed the hair out of her face and clicked even more frantically, as if that would help. "Nothing! In this entire database!"

Adam stared impassively at her from the examining table, occasionally uttering quiet slurred whispers.

Charlotte let out a frustrated snort and tied her hair up in a hasty ponytail. "I guess the best diagnosis I can give is some sort of mutated HD combined with psychological symptoms from VDS, that would explain why you haven't developed any symptoms before now...I'm going to put you on some mild anti-depressants, and we'll see how you do with that."

Adam blinked slowly and nodded, sitting up haltingly and jerkingly. Charlotte helped him to his feet and guided him to the door, keeping a careful watch as he wobbled down the hall, leaning on the walls for support. Then, she let out a long, deep sigh and turned back to the terminal.

"March 23, 2228. Dweller 0684, Adam Patterson, 47 years old, exhibiting symptoms of impaired movement and depressive behaviors, as well as speech impediments so severe, they amount to almost total muteness. Since patient has only recently starting experiencing these symptoms, my diagnosis is a somewhat mutated Huntington's Disease, coupled with Vault Depressive Syndrome. Patient has been prescribed with chlorpromazine, but -" Another sigh. "Between difficulty swallowing with the HD, unwillingness to eat from depression and chlorpromazine's tendency to cause weight loss, overall prognosis...not positive."

She buried her face in her hands, her hair cascading through her fingers, having already escaped the ponytail. Adam was the last engineer. How much could he fix with shaking hands and a brain half eaten by neuroses? That meant leaking water systems, malfunctioning x-ray machines, faulty electrical wiring...and his projected expectancy was only about ten years or so, assuming he didn't get commit suicide or starve to death first.

She clicked a few buttons on the keyboard, checking the math in her head, even though she knew it was right. There had been 867 people admitted to the vault when it first opened. It was down to sixty when I was born and now, twenty years later, only thirty six. And, of those thirty six, eight are mentally or physically unable to work, four are diagnosed with terminal conditions - no, wait, five now, including Adam...we're going to dwindle away to nothing. She stared blankly at the screen, displaying the dismal numbers. Nothing, but a hundred and fifty years of medical death sentences.

"Stimpak for your thoughts."

She jumped slightly and turned. "Oh hi, Jim," She forced a smile. "Just...um...updating Adam's file."

"I saw him down the hall - moving worse than me," Jim manipulated his way forward, leaning awkwardly on his forearm crutches. "That came out of nowhere."

"Yeah, HD usually stays dormant until the thirties or forties," Charlotte leaned her forehead against the wall and took a long shuddering breath. "You know that in some of those medical journals, they talk about people living to eighty? That was practically normal!"

Jim raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Charlotte slid down to the floor and hugged her knees. "No one in the vault has lived over sixty in a hundred years. And almost everyone right now is over forty except us…"

"Speaking of which, Maisie was bugging me about that again," Jim lowered himself onto a stool. "She actually was going through some of the baby things, you know, all casually."

Charlotte groaned, but there was a bit of a giggle behind it. "She's never gonna give up, is she."

"Nope. Pulled the 'responsibility to duty' card." He screwed up his face and spoke in a falsetto. "The future of this vault rests in the hands of you young people! How can we expect to go on unless you two produce some children?"

Charlotte giggled again. The impression was spot on.

"I could not have been more clear. 'Maisie,' I said 'For the million and tenth time, she is not interested in me and I am not interested in girls. She's married to her work and I am gayer than the Fourth of July.' Then she muttered something about that just being another disease and I beat her up with my crutches."

Charlotte laughed out loud at that one. "Please don't do that. I'm the one who has to patch her up."

Jim's smile faded and he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "Still, there always is, you know, artificial insemination and stuff…"

She shook her head violently. "For the million end eleventh time, Jim, no way. A good two thirds of this vault, ourselves included, are diagnosed with genetic disorders, our babies are only gonna get what we got. Do you want a kid with muscular dystrophy and hemophilia?"

He sighed. "I know, I know."

"Plus, who knows if I'd even survive childbirth, I could very well bleed to death -"

"Okay, okay!" Jim raised his hands in surrender. "You're right, I know it. It's just…" He bit his lip. "Scary to think about, you know? I mean, what's going to happen to the vault?"

Charlotte pulled her knees tighter to her chest. "Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor, not a psychic, how the hell should I know?"

"Sorry."

They were silent for a while.

"We're all going to die."

"Slowly, but yes."

Another silence.

"Why would Vault-Tec do this?" They said it at the same time and exchanged weak smiles.

But neither could answer the question.


	4. The Vault Door

**Chapter 3: The Vault Door**

 **Have no fear, dwellers! Our patented Seal-N-SafeTM technology make our vault doors the most effective protection from the horrors of Armageddon. 20,000 pounds of reinforced steel protect you and your family from everything from a nuclear blast to toxic radiation to everyday bullets. Vault, 73 in particular, also includes a unique disinfectant chamber, creating an safe and sanitized airlock between the outer and inner doors. Controlled by a specially coded operations panel, our secure vault doors ensure that nothing gets in or out!**

* * *

The loudspeaker fizzed and crackled. "Charlotte, please report to the conference room." This was followed by more of the usual static - the intercoms had been acting up lately.

Charlotte sighed and put down her fork. She wasn't really hungry anyway.

She shivered as she walked down the corridor...the vault had been unusually chilly lately. She had already had to treat about four or five cases of the common cold and was starting to sneeze herself. Some people had tried to look into repairing the heat - and the intercom too, for that matter - but without Adam to help, it had been a rough couple of months.

When she got to the conference room, the door slid open before she could even touch the button. Jim stood in the doorway, giving her a worried look, clearly trying to tell her something without words.

"Ah, good, that was fast. Come here and sit down."

She shot a puzzled and nervous glance at Jim before sitting next to Maisie. Jim followed her, moving his chair closer than normal, as if protecting her from something.

Maisie took a deep breath. "Charlotte, I'm sure you've noticed that things have gotten...well, that our vault is not the proud palace it once was."

Charlotte nodded warily, then remembered and spoke. "Yes."

"We're not a large community and it does not seem like we'll be getting any larger…" There was a note of strong disapproval in her voice. "And between lack of maintenance and scarcity of supplies, our future seems...uncertain, at the moment."

It did before, too. Charlotte thought, but didn't say anything. It was, after all, true. She had noticed and reported that they were running low on medical supplies a week or two ago, and ever since, she had been feeling the dread much more than usual. "I know."

"As the Overseer, it's my duty to ensure the ongoing safety of the vault of a whole, putting no one person, including myself, over the needs of the population as a whole. It's -" And here, her voice wavered, momentarily losing its official and slightly pompous tone. "It's also my unfortunate duty to deliver bad news and assign unwanted, yet necessary tasks."

"Maisie," Jim cut in softly. "Just tell her."

"Right," Maisie sighed. "Charlotte, we need you to leave the vault and bring back medical supplies."

Charlotte blinked, her heart skipping a beat. She was tempted to ask whether this was a joke, but she knew from their faces that it wasn't. "W-why me?"

"Because you're the only one healthy enough to do it," Jim put a hand on her shoulder. "Maisie's blind, I'm crippled, and the rest of the vault is pretty much dependent on their medication."

"But...but…" She was grasping at straws now. "I'm the best doctor in the vault! I could help by staying here and - and what if I die out there? One cut, one scrape and I'd be done for!"

Maisie raised a hand. "You'll be supplied with some stimpaks, of course -"

"So you're giving me medical supplies so I can go look for medical supplies?" Charlotte's voice was rising, growing hysterical. "That makes no sense, none of this makes any sense!"

"Charlotte!" Maisie stood up, her voice forceful. "This is not a request, it is an order. Look around," She gestured at the empty chairs. "Once, this room would have been filled with all the members of a council, all the heads of departments. But now...this vault is dying. It has been for a long time and even I know there's no way to save it. Our only hope is to try and keep it going as long as we can. This is a huge gamble, but we depend on you," She sat back down slowly. "We have nothing left to lose."

Charlotte looked at her, her own stunned face reflected in Maisie's sunglasses. "I...I understand. I...when will I be leaving?"

"As soon as you're ready."

"Thank you," Charlotte stood up numbly and walked towards the door in a sort of trance. In the hall, she heard telltale clunks behind her and paused, waiting for Jim to catch up with her.

"Charlotte, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't find out until right before you did, I would have told you if I knew anything, you know I would -"

"It's okay, Jim," She said quietly, not meeting his gaze. "It's really okay."

They walked in silence for a minute before he sighed. "I wish it had been me."

"Come on, you don't have to be noble."

"Noble? No, the opposite," He gripped her arm, turning her to face him. "I know it's dangerous and terrifying and it's more than likely you won't come back, but...at least you won't die in here, caged underground. You get to be free."

They both exchanged smiles that had no trace of humor or happiness.

"You brought enough stimpaks and blood packs?"

Charlotte nodded. In truth, she wasn't really sure she had - she hadn't wanted to take too many, so as to make the shortage worse.

"Food and water?"

"A couple of days worth, I should be back by then. Or find somewhere to resupply."

"Good."

Charlotte's heart was hammering so hard in her chest, she was practically convinced she was going to burst an huge, imposing vault door not three feet away, this awkward, overly formal conversation...everything seemed suddenly much more real and imminent.

Maisie tapped Charlotte's arm. "If you look on your Pip-boy map, you can see the vault. We're at the southernmost corner, just below D.C, right on the banks of the Potomac. I'd recommend heading west right away so that you don't have to go through the city. It was hit pretty hard during the war and there still may be some residual radiation."

Charlotte nodded mutely.

"The locations of a few other vaults should also be on there...if they've been abandoned, you can always search to see if they have any surplus."

Charlotte glanced at the screen. "Okay,"

"Give us just a minute, will you?" Jim pulled her awkwardly aside and pressed something cold into her hands.

She looked down and then did a double take. "Jim, is that -"

"Shh, shh, shh!" Jim waved his hands frantically. "Yes, it's a gun, okay? A ten mil pistol. We...we don't know what's out there and...well, you probably won't need it, but just in case you have to, like, hunt or something. Just...please?"

His eyes were pleading. She hesitated, checked the safety, then tucked it into her belt.

He sighed and smiled. "Thank you."

She turned back to Maisie, who was standing by the control panel. "Charlotte, are you ready?"

Charlotte swallowed hard. "I think so."

Maisie patted the control panel until she found the lever she was looking for. "The outer door will open automatically after this one. To get back in, just punch the code into the control pad and pull the lever...you'll find the code in your Pip-Boy."

Charlotte opened her mouth to say something, but she was drowned out by the screech and groan of ten tons of metal leaving its resting place for the first time in a hundred and fifty years. Practically in slow motion, the door drew back and rolled almost agonizingly to the side, revealing the empty, untouched airlock chamber that lay beyond.

Her heart was beating faster than ever as she stepped through the enormous doorway, hoisting her backpack higher on her shoulders and letting her fingertips graze the gun, as if for confidence. She glanced back, but the door had already begun to close and she couldn't get a last glimpse of her home before it settled back with a deafening clang.


	5. The World Above

**Chapter 4: The World Above**

 **Following total atomic annihilation, the world as we know it may be drastically transformed. Between lethally high levels of toxic radiation and lack of basic necessities, other unforeseen dangers may lurk in the shadows. Horrific mutations caused by the harsh environments, violent savages, even communists may lie in wait, ready to pounce on the first innocent soul they happen across. The only guaranteed protection from the horrors of the nuclear wasteland is inside a genuine Vault-Tec Vault - accept no substitute!**

* * *

The chamber was enormous and so silent, Charlotte could hear her heavy breathing echoing back at her from all angles. She took a few steps forward, keeping a hand on the wall to steady herself.

"Initiating decontamination sequence," An automated woman's voice flickered through some hidden speaker and Charlotte felt a fine mist spray her face and the rest of her body. She didn't feel a change. _But then again, I'm healthy now. When I come back..._ Her stomach did somersaults just thinking about the condition she might return in.

"Decontamination complete. Releasing lock,"

A similar, if somewhat smaller door at the end of the room began to roll back, just the way the other one had. This one, however was accompanied by another sound, beyond the moving of metal on metal...a rushing, roaring kind of sound...Charlotte moved closer, straining to hear.

Then, before she knew what was happening, she was slammed against the back of the chamber, pinned against the inner vault door by the torrent of water that had gushed in from the outside. She had barely enough time to grab the tiniest gulp of air before the room was completely flooded.

The pressure relented slightly and she kicked off the back wall, swimming desperately for the exit, lungs already burning for oxygen. Through her panic, she could feel that there was something...wrong with the water. Something that made her skin crawl and her insides tie themselves in knots. _Radiation,_ She realized and began kicking harder, faster in her attempt to get out of the toxic sludge.

The surface of the water wasn't far above the outer exit. Chest about to burst, she surged upwards, barely even noticing something brushing her ankle down below.

She broke the surface and let out a huge gasp, grabbing hold of a large rock on the bank and pulling herself on top of it. She lay there for a few minutes, panting and shaking from the adrenaline.

"Bombs must've...rerouted the river…" She said between breaths, not entirely sure why she was talking aloud. "Irradiated. Not safe."

By then, she had gotten her breath back and her head was starting to clear. She got to her feet, felt to make sure everything was in her backpack and made her way up the rocky bank, breathing deeply. The air was different here too...heavy and sour, but...still better than the vault. Fresher.

A kind of growling, clicking noise behind her made her glance back curiously and let out a strangled scream. Some sort of horrible...crab on legs was lumbering out of the water not five feet away her, claws extended and snapping menacingly.

Charlotte, heart whamming in her chest, fumbled for the gun in her pocket, switched the safety off on the third try and fired a few wild shots. The bullets bounced harmlessly off the monster's shell and it kept coming.

She whirled around again and scrambled up the rocks, feet slipping in occasional pools of water. "Oh god, oh god, oh god…" As she reached the top and pulled herself up with trembling arms, she could feel the whiff of air around her leg where the creature's claw had almost snapped it in half.

With another terrified shriek, Charlotte started running as fast as her unsteady legs could go, not looking back. The broken and scorched husks of buildings loomed over her as she sprinted in a direction she fervently hoped was west. Anywhere, just out of that city of death and away from that monster -

"Ha! There you are!"

She stumbled to a stop and tears she hadn't known were there rolled down her cheeks. "Wh-what?"

Around the corner of one of the buildings, three people charged towards her, all dressed in odd leathery armor adorned with spikes. Two of them held baseball bats and the third had a gun not unlike her own.

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness, you can help. There's something back there -"

She was cut off by one of the baseball bats connecting hard with her shoulder and a sadistic laugh echoing in her ear.

Staggering a little, she started to run again, calves aching as she stumbled and let out a choked sob. After a minute, the taunts and footsteps behind her died away and she glanced back just in time to see the monster's claw lop off the head one of the leather clad people. She clapped her hand over her mouth to stifle another scream.

She ran until her legs were numb and rubbery underneath her, out of the destroyed city and over the desolate rocky brown landscape that stretched on towards the horizon. She sank to the ground, gasping and clutching the stitch in her side, her heavy breathing punctuated by occasional hysterical sobs.

"Okay, it's okay," She rubbed her arms, as if giving herself a comforting hug. "It's okay, you got aw-w-way and you've got your gun and...and you've g-got to learn to use it, that's all, a-and…" She drew a deep, shuddering breath. "And just learn to st-stay out of sight and it'll b-be okay...the nearest vault is j-j-just…" She glanced at her Pip-boy. "About five or s-six miles north of here. Vault 101." She took another deep breath and wiped the tears from her eyes, calming down a little. "They can help me and it'll all be okay. It's okay."

A shout pierced the silence and Charlotte sat bolt upright, heart kicking back into high gear. Fumbling for her gun, she pressed herself against a nearby rock and glanced around nervously for the source of the noise.

In the distance, she could just make out the form of someone running, sprinting even, in her general direction. However, unlike the leather psychopaths, the bright colors of a vault suit stood out starkly against the colorless landscape. She sighed and stood up, but kept the gun by her side. Just in case.

"H-hey, hello!" She shouted. "Hey, can you help me?"

The person didn't stop running, getting close enough that she could make out the features of a youngish blond man.

"I'm from Vault 73 and…" She paused, the man did not. "Are you okay?"

He was still silent, and drawing closer all the time. She gripped her gun more tightly and began to back away, ever so slowly. "Listen, I'm not here to hurt anyone, I just need to..."

He was close enough now for her to see the Vault-tec logo on the front of his jumpsuit…and the knife in his hand.

Something snapped inside her.

She stood up straight and aimed the gun square at the stranger's chest. With a voice much deeper than her own, she barked "HEY!"

The man finally stopped, staring nervously at the gun.

Charlotte pushed her hair out her face, gun hand trembling ever so slightly. "I have been through enough BULLSHIT today and I do not need some ASSHOLE - " She grabbed the knife out of his astonished hand and threw it behind her with all her strength. "Trying to fucking KILL me when all I want is some goddamn HELP - Don't you move!" She gripped the gun with both hands as the man shifted uncomfortably, eyes darting towards where she had thrown his knife. "Think I won't use this? I will!" She fired off a couple of shots behind her to prove her point, trying not to wince at the loud noise. "See? So you'd better not mess with me, because - what?"

The man's eyes had widened and his jaw had dropped, his gaze still fixed behind her. Carefully, still keeping the gun trained on his chest, she glanced over her shoulder.

It was gigantic. At some point, it must have been a bear, but it was mutated almost beyond recognition, patches of hair missing and the skin underneath horribly burned and scarred. And now it lay not three feet away from her, bloodstained claws still twitching…with a knife buried in its shoulder and two bullet holes right between its milky eyes.

"Look, I told you, you don't have to follow me around," Charlotte made another futile effort to move her hair off of her sweaty neck. "So I shot something that was chasing you, it's okay, you don't owe me anything!"

The stranger blinked, still matching her pace.

Charlotte sighed. She had been trying to maintain an air of coolness after discovering her accidental heroism, but it was waning after the stress of the day and this weird...person wasn't helping much. "Fine then. If you insist on tagging along, I might as well know your name."

"Gary." It was the first word he had spoken.

"Okay...Gary...I'm Charlotte. Thanks for not murdering me."

Gary smiled, an odd, almost humorless smile that made him look even more insane.

Charlotte stopped walking and took a deep breath. Even if he was crazy, he was the only thing that hadn't tried to kill her yet and that meant she had to trust him. "Gary, I'm looking for someplace that might have medical supplies. Would your vault have some to spare?"

His eyes widened and he shook his head fervently. Then, pressing a few buttons on his Pip-boy, he leaned closer and pointed to a location marked on his map.

"Megaton?" Well, I guess it's pretty close to Vault 101 anyway… She hoisted her backpack higher on her shoulders. "Okay thanks. We can go there together, but after that, we go our separate ways, okay?"

Gary nodded.

They walked in silence for a bit, the only sound coming from the wind whistling through the dead grass at their feet.

"So uh…" Charlotte struggled to think of a conversation topic. This was the only person around her age that she had ever spent any time with, except Jim, of course. "Vault 108, huh? What's it like?"

Gary shrugged. "Gary…"

Charlotte's brow furrowed. "Can't you say anything else?"

"Gary," He shook his head, gesturing vaguely with his hands. "Gary gary gary - gary, gary?"

"...what?"

He sighed and pointed to the number the back of his vault suit.

"Yeah, okay, Vault 108…"

He pointed to himself. "Gary."

"You live there."

He nodded, then held up five fingers on one hand and four on the other.

"Nine...no, fifty four? There are fifty four people?"

He shook his head and starting counting off. He held up one finger; "Gary," two fingers; "Gary," three fingers; "Gary,"

It took Charlotte a minute or two to understand. "You mean...there are fifty four...Garys? You're all the same? All like you?"

He nodded.

"But…" She stared at him. "How...what...are you clones or something?"

He nodded again, pointing to a tattoo on the back of his neck: 13.

"That's incredible…" She looked at him more closely now, thrilled at being able to be so close to this medical marvel. "Are they all different? Were there any females?"

Gary shook his head and pointed to himself. "Gary gary gary," He grinned maliciously and made a stabbing motion. "Gaaaaary!"

Charlotte laughed in spite of herself. "So you're all murderous psychopaths then," She paused. "But you're not going to kill me, right?"

Gary shrugged.

She waited, but that was all the response he gave.


End file.
